After the incident with Dong Jiaoyan blew up, Qiao Liuyue moved into a rented house near the school gate to avoid any possible retaliation from her.
It was a three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment, about a hundred square meters, and the rent was only eight hundred yuan.
It was ridiculously cheap, and the landlord lady was almost too warm and enthusiastic.
Qiao Liuyue soon figured out what was going on. The next day, a new neighbor moved into the apartment directly across from hers.
"Hey, what a coincidence!" Zheng Qingyuan waved with a delighted look on his face.
Qiao Liuyue pretended not to know that the apartment she was renting was actually his property too. She gave a faint nod and said:
"What a coincidence indeed. But your company is in the east of the city, and the university town is in the west. Isn't the commute inconvenient?"
The smile on Zheng Qingyuan's lips froze for a moment, then he naturally replied, "Ahahahaha, you know I'm just a slacker. It doesn't matter whether I go to the company or not—there's a professional manager handling everything anyway."
It was clear that he was a rich second-generation with no ambition at all.
"If you ever need an internship, you could come work at my company," Zheng Qingyuan said warmly.
"No, thanks."
Qiao Liuyue shook her head.
She was studying Chinese Language and Literature. After graduation, she'd probably just end up as an administrative clerk at a big company.
But she didn't like that prospect at all.
Just around that time, she'd met a boss while working as a paid gaming companion.
He thought she had great gaming skills and asked if she'd be interested in becoming a game streamer. Qiao Liuyue was actually somewhat tempted.
That was also one of the reasons she planned to move out of the dormitory—if she was going to buy streaming equipment and needed a completely quiet space, renting her own place would be much more convenient.
"Alright then." Zheng Qingyuan scratched his head and then, very proactively, said, "Actually, since I just moved in today, I don't have anything to eat at home. Could I maybe come over to your place for a meal?"
A meal?
Qiao Liuyue said, "I don't know how to cook."
She was lying, of course—she just didn't want to bother entertaining him.
Unexpectedly, Zheng Qingyuan was very eager. He raised his hand like an enthusiastic, friendly golden retriever.
"I know how! I know how! I can cook!"
"Well... fine, but we need to go to the supermarket first. I don't have much food at home either."
"No problem, I'll drive!" Zheng Qingyuan chuckled.
Qiao Liuyue felt a chill run down her spine.
If he drove, this meal would probably never happen.
"I'll drive instead."
"Sure." Zheng Qingyuan didn't mind at all and handed over the car keys.
His cheerful demeanor lasted exactly until he spotted Chu Xubai and Xie Linchuan in the supermarket. Instantly, his smile vanished. He pointed at Chu Xubai and said:
"Why are you here?"
Then he pointed at Xie Linchuan, his tone dripping with disdain: "And you—aren't you studying up north? You flew back last time. Why are you back again, haunting us like a ghost?"
Chu Xubai wanted to agree.
He also found it suspicious that Xie Linchuan had suddenly come to Nanshi City.
But Xie Linchuan himself gave a perfectly reasonable answer: "There's an internship opportunity in my major that happens to match a company here. I managed to secure it."
Zheng Qingyuan snorted twice.
"Your major matches a company in any city you go to."
Xie Linchuan was caught off guard but didn't seem embarrassed. He patted Chu Xubai and said:
"Isn't it because everywhere else is unfamiliar? At least here I have my brothers, familiar people to lean on."
As he said this, he secretly glanced at Qiao Liuyue from the corner of his eye.
Then quickly looked away.
His sneaky behavior, of course, was caught by Qiao Liuyue.
In truth, the system showed that Xie Linchuan's affection toward her was at 65%—more than friends, but not yet lovers.
Xie Linchuan himself wasn't entirely sure why he'd actively gone after that internship opportunity that just happened to be in Nanshi. Perhaps his subconscious was telling him he wanted to be closer to this place.
Four people went grocery shopping together.
Chu Xubai took the initiative to push the shopping cart, while Zheng Qingyuan stuck close to Qiao Liuyue, chattering away.
"Liuyue, let's get some of this. These tomatoes are really fresh—I can make tomato braised beef."
"Oh, that looks good too. Xie Linchuan, go grab it over there."
"Chu Xubai, don't just stand there like a lump. Go fight the old ladies for those asparagus—they just came in fresh. Hurry up."
Because neither of them knew how to cook, Chu Xubai and Xie Linchuan got bossed around like errand boys.
Qiao Liuyue quietly watched the scene unfold with zero sympathy. After all, everyone was there to serve her.
Of course, their little group of handsome men and beautiful women still drew plenty of attention from passersby.
As Qiao Liuyue was walking, she suddenly heard an unfamiliar female voice behind her.
"Qiao Liuyue? Is that you?" The voice sounded almost in disbelief.
She turned around and saw a woman with a light brown bob and a baby face—sweet and adorable—wearing a pink camisole with thin straps and denim shorts.
The woman's eyes sparkled with surprise and a hint of uncertainty as she looked at her.
"I am. But you are—"
The short-haired woman pointed at herself and said with a grin, "I'm Zhang Anqi! We were middle school classmates."
Oh. Qiao Liuyue finally remembered.
Zhang Anqi had been a friend of hers and Dong Jiaoyan's. Eventually, Zhang Anqi and Dong Jiaoyan had formed their own little duo and would sometimes not even bother calling her.
If it hadn't been for the falling-out between Zhang Anqi and Dong Jiaoyan during high school—over who knows what—the person Dong Jiaoyan would call "my best friend since childhood" probably wouldn't have been her, but Zhang Anqi instead.
"You go to university here too?" Qiao Liuyue's tone was unhurried.
Zhang Anqi gave an awkward little laugh and said, "No, I didn't do well on my exams, so I ended up at a small school in a tiny city. I'm here for a class reunion."
"Class reunion?" Qiao Liuyue was confused.
"Yeah. The high school class president organized it in the group chat. Didn't you know? A lot of people are coming... I didn't really want to come, but I heard Dong Jiaoyan was going to be there, so I figured I'd come and have it out with her!"
When she mentioned Dong Jiaoyan, Zhang Anqi's eyes glinted with mischief, like she was ready to watch some fireworks.
Qiao Liuyue had always been the quiet, invisible type, so she said, "I'm not in the class group, so I didn't know about this."
Zhang Anqi was extremely enthusiastic. "Oh, no worries, no worries! Come with me tomorrow! I'll let the class president know—adding one more person is no big deal."
Just as their conversation reached that point, Xie Linchuan and Chu Xubai came over carrying the groceries they'd picked out.
Meanwhile, Zheng Qingyuan had been standing right beside Qiao Liuyue the whole time.
Zhang Anqi had assumed Zheng Qingyuan was her boyfriend, thinking Qiao Liuyue was lucky to have such a handsome one.
But then she saw two more strikingly handsome men of completely different styles walk over.
She couldn't help but gape.
She stammered, "Th-this... we've been talking this whole time, Qiao Liuyue—who are these guys?"
She thought to herself: They can't all be boyfriends, right?
Zheng Qingyuan perked up his ears with anticipation.
Then she heard Qiao Liuyue introduce him in a light, detached tone: “Oh, this is my neighbor who lives across the hall.”
This time, he really was the bona fide boy-next-door.
But Zheng Qingyuan couldn’t bring himself to feel happy about it.
